Kenny Stills – December 17, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 17, 2017
Postgame – Buffalo Bills
Dolphins WR Kenny Stills (transcribed by the Buffalo Bills)
Q: How tough was this one considering you guys knew the playoffs were on the line, you could be right in the equation if you had pulled off this victory?
A: It’s not a good feeling to lose this one. We had an opportunity, with a win, to potentially make the playoffs. It hurts, but at the end of the day we made too many mistakes and turned the ball over too many times. We can’t win when we do stuff like that.
Q: How do you feel about where this leaves the team, relative to the rest of the season?
A: It’s just like every other week. It’s a one game season. We go out there and try to figure out how to fix the mistakes we made today and try to get a victory next week.
Q: What has been missing from this team’s mojo? I know it’s a different team every year, but what is missing from that team that you guys had last year?
A: I don’t think we’re missing much. It’s just the mistakes we are making. It’s hard to keep a drive going when you’re first and nine, or second and nine. There’s not many plays a coach can go to. We are putting ourselves in bad situations and we are turning the ball over. The games that we are not doing that we are doing fine, the games that we are doing that we can’t put points on the board.
Mike Pouncey – December 17, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 17, 2017
Postgame – Buffalo Bills
Dolphins C Mike Pouncey (transcribed by the Buffalo Bills)
Q: Thoughts after the loss?
A: It just sucks man, it’s a bad feeling. We went out there, we fought until the very end, we gave ourselves every opportunity to win that football game, we just didn’t make enough plays and they made more plays than we did. Just contribute them for having a fast start, we didn’t come out as fast as we did last week. We got down in the red zone and kicked too many field goals. Those have to be touchdowns, especially when you’re playing in road games. It’s kind of the way the game played out for us.
Q: Knowing that you needed this one to stay in the playoff contention, how do you go forward now with this loss?
A: We keep coming hard, coming hard, do what we do every Monday. We’re going to work as hard as we can and until they officially eliminate us out, it doesn’t matter. We’ve got 16 games, you sign up to play in this league and no matter what happens, you’ve got to go through all 16 and we’ll see what it’s like at the end of the season.
Q: What were they doing that was so difficult once you did get those chances to score when you came up with field goals?
A: It was more of us, more of the execution on offense. We can’t take any credit away from those guys, those guys played all four quarters. They played a really good game and ended up getting a W.
Jarvis Landry – December 17, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 17, 2017
Postgame – Buffalo Bills
Dolphins WR Jarvis Landry (transcribed by the Buffalo Bills)
Q: Jarvis, there’s highs in this game like last week, and there’s lows. How low is this after that loss?
A: A loss is a loss, no matter when it is. Obviously, we knew everything that was at stake and we didn’t make it happen.
Q: Last year, you guys stepped up when those opportunities presented itself. This year, that hasn’t necessarily been the case. What is the difference?
A: I don’t know. I wish I could I tell you, I don’t know.
Q: I wasn’t sure what happened on the unsportsmanlike call in the 4th quarter. Do you know what you were flagged for?
A: Obviously, we’re a team that the refs look at as far as pick plays and stuff like that. I did not pick the guy, I was getting jammed. DeVante (Parker) came free and got the first down obviously, he threw the flag and I just told him, ‘That’s a bad call’. I’ve had the opportunity to speak to refs and talk to refs and this guy, he just didn’t want anyone to talk to him or challenge what he was saying. He’s protected, he’s a referee … It is what it is.
Q: What is it about these two teams, it seems like every time you guys play it’s pretty charged?
A: Because it’s usually like this. The Patriots are winning the AFC and we’re fighting for the next slot. That usually is the case and I think that’s why.
Q: How do you bounce back from this, emotionally?
A: Get back in there tomorrow, watch film and prepare the same way.
Bobby McCain – December 17, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 17, 2017
Postgame – Buffalo Bills
Dolphins CB Bobby McCain (transcribed by the Buffalo Bills)
Q: It seemed like in the first half Tyrod [Taylor] breaking contain was killing you guys, why was it so hard getting him down today?
A: He’s a good athlete. He’s a good quarterback. He uses his feet really well getting out of the pocket. He’s better scrambling. We couldn’t contain him, we didn’t contain him, we didn’t do our job, and that’s going to be one of our plans to input. We’ve just got to come out and execute the next time we play them.
Q: You are one of the more fiery guys on the team. It was a pretty chippy game today, what led to that?
A: It’s the Bills, you know. It’s a division game. A rival game. We need it. They need it. We both needed the game. It’s just football. People take it out of context. It’s just emotions, you play with emotion and that’s just what we do.
Q: Speaking of emotions Bobby, how high was last week and how low is this?
A: It sucks. Losing a game sucks, any game to be honest especially this one. This was a big one for us and now we just have to prepare and to go out and have a great week of practice. That’s the only thing we can do is have a great week of practice and try to get better.
Jesse Davis – December 17, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 17, 2017
Postgame – Buffalo Bills
Dolphins G/T Jesse Davis (transcribed by the Buffalo Bills)
Q: Jesse, how tough is it knowing you guys were right in the position to sort of make yourself a playoff contender, or get yourself in the mix, and lost this game?
A: It hurts, but we were fired up for this game. Put ourselves in some bad spots, got to the red zone twice in the first two drives and we should have capitalized on that, so that’s our own fault. We got a great team, we’re not going to sit here and beat each other up. We’re going to come back.
Q: It seems that always when you guys play each other, there’s another level of chippy-ness. What is it about these two teams that just don’t like each other?
A: I don’t know, this is my first time playing this team. It was definitely one of the most chippy ones on the year … I couldn’t answer that question.
Q: What was going on in the corner, it looked like there was four Bills and Kenyan (Drake) was in the corner and you came to try and help?
A: Yeah, I saw Kenyan on the ground and a bunch of blue jerseys around him, I’m trying to get my guy to the sideline. Next thing you know, this guy turns around and hits me in the face and I just didn’t understand what the hell was going on. So, I try to get my guy off, he was trying to stop me and didn’t want me to get there.
Q: When you talk about sticking together, how important is it finishing strong these final two games?
A: It’s really important, just knowing when you’re out here, we still have a job to do. We get paid to do a job, you do your job and stick together, have fun. We’ll see what we can do with play call this week.
Jay Cutler – December 17, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 17, 2017
Postgame – Buffalo Bills
Dolphins QB Jay Cutler (transcribed by the Buffalo Bills)
Q: It seemed like you had a hard time making connections, and later in the game hanging onto the football. It was knocked out of your hand a couple of times. What was going on?
A: I think that in the later part of the game, we’re just trying to make plays and trying to push the ball down the field. We’re in a two-score game, so you’ve got to hold onto it a little bit. They’re playing coverage, not an ideal situation. We started the game field goal, field goal. I think that’s exactly how we started the New England game. Obviously we didn’t finish as we wanted to.
Q: The inconsistency is frustrating from last week to this week. It’s been like that all season. How do you wrap your arms around that?
A: You don’t want to sit up here and make excuses for anything. I’m not going to make excuses for the way I’ve played, or the three turnovers. I’m responsible for all three of them no matter what the situation was. I mean, we’ve talked about inconsistencies all year. I think it’s been a theme of every Wednesday or Thursday at press conferences. When we win, we do a lot of things right, and when we lose, we do things like that. That’s the NFL. It’s the landscape. The good teams find ways to do it game in and game out. The young teams and the teams that are struggling to figure it out, they’re going to have ups and downs. If we want to take that next step to being one of those consistent teams, these are games where we’ve got to come out and put a better performance together.
Q: Has it been a frustrating season for you?
A: I think anybody that loses games gets frustrated. I think it’s hard not to say. I love playing with these guys. We have a great coaching staff. We have a lot of talent there and it makes it fun to go to work. Even though we lost this game, the guys were out there fighting to the last play.
Q: Kenyan Drake rushed for 53 yards in the first half, 78 for the game. How were the Bills able to limit him in the second and third quarters?
A: We were in a pass-happy situation in the fourth quarter. We were playing catch-up, so it’s going to be hard to stay balanced in a situation like that.
Q: When you talk about the turnovers, did you have an issues gripping the ball?
A: That one came out, you know, it just gets dry out there. The other one got knocked out.
Q: Was this the case later in the game when the Bills were changing the looks up on you, and keeping you going through your progressions?
A: Well, they’ve got the luxury. They’re up two scores. We’ve got to put it in the end zone, so they’re not really worried about the run. They’re able to drop eight guys, nine guys, and play some different coverages. I think we saw it last week against the Patriots. Their defense was able to throw a lot of different coverages. When you’re winning in those situations, it’s a great place to be.
Q: Where do you find the motivation for the next two games for this team to play at the level you want to play at?
A: It’s a great locker room. I don’t think we’re going to have any issues with guys shutting down. We’ve been in games where we’ve been two scores out, and the guys find ways to go out there and keep playing until the whistle blows. So as long as they let us play next week, we’re going to be ready to roll.
Q: Did you feel like you were a little off at the beginning of the game?
A: No, I didn’t feel that.
Q: Do you ever feel that way in a game and if so, what do you go back to in order to correct it?
A: I think Adam (Gase) does a good job whenever we’re a little bit off-kilter getting the ball out, getting some catch-and-runs, giving it the juice, getting some quick passes to some of these guys and seeing if we can get a little momentum.
Adam Gase – December 17, 2017 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 17, 2017
Postgame – Buffalo Bills
Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase (transcribed by the Buffalo Bills)
Q: What do you tell the team after a game like this today?
A: Well, I thought we fought to the end, tried to get ourselves back in in. It was too late. Had three and then at least [it] gave ourselves a chance to try to do something with not much time left. Just have to come in tomorrow and fix our mistakes and reset for the next week.
Q: Coach, any reason why you didn’t run Kenyan [Drake] a lot more since he was averaging 4.8 yards per carry coming into today?
A: Well, we started having negative plays [and] we were putting ourselves in third and long. That kind of caused us some problems there in the 2nd quarter. We had some success early; really, it was all on him. As far as the reason why we were getting a lot of those yards, we were kind of losing some blocks and then bouncing them outside. We were trying to avoid standing at third and long, because we knew that was going to be tough for us with the way that they were rushing. We were struggling to pick up a lot of their stuff.
Q: Adam, Jay Cutler seemed to have some problems with accuracy and controlling the ball. Do you have any idea what was going on?
A: Yeah, I have to go back and look at what was going on with that. There was a couple of them where I thought [that] we had some chances there whether he threw a good ball or guys – I felt like we were on the same page, we just didn’t hit ‘em.
Q: How do you assess how difficult this season’s been for you guys? [Ryan] Tannehill’s injury [added] to the hurricane, playing 16 in a row –
A: Yeah, I’ll think about it later. I’m not worried about that right now.
Q: So what’s hard to understand is how a team can play at a certain level against a championship team and then follow that up with [performing] not close [to that caliber]?
A: We didn’t play good. We didn’t do anything really well today. I can’t say we were doing things wrong. They just played better than us.
Q: Coach, you kind of knew going into this game it was going to be LeSean McCoy, trying to keep him from hurdling in, [and] Tyrod Taylor doing what he’s done in the past. They just seem to have – seem to play well against this football team. Tyrod running, throwing the ball. How do you resolve that?
A: We’re going to find out here in a couple of weeks. Both those guys, I mean everybody that pays attention to us probably knew who we were going to try to stop. We just didn’t get it done.
Q: You’ve got to feel pretty good about your offense early on [with] Kenyan running the ball, [and] you were able to move well other than not being able to come up with touchdowns; you had to kick field goals. It seemed like after that, Kenyan became ineffective, starting losing yards and it seemed to make you change your whole idea offensively.
A: We didn’t really change anything; we were just trying to figure out a way to stay third and manageable. Then we did it a few times and we didn’t convert. The whole purpose of getting inside third and six is give yourself a better chance to get a first down, a new set of downs. Just never could really get in the rhythm we wanted to get into.
Q: Two games left, it looks like playoffs are out of the picture. What do you play for next week and what do you want to accomplish over the next two weeks?
A: Anytime you’re in this league, every week’s an evaluation. Doesn’t matter what week of the season it is. Our guys are ready to come back to work and find a way to get better and get to play another week.
Q: Last week, look at Jay Cutler–just had everything going. This week, a little off target early on and then couldn’t seem to get his rhythm. [He seemed to have] had a tough time holding on to the ball; dropped it a couple of times. What did you see from Jay?
A: I’m going to have to go back and look at the tape and really see what was going on. Sometimes, you’re thinking one thing on the sideline, when you go back and you start talking through some things and you kind of have a better idea. It’s kind of hard for me to piece together exactly what wasn’t going right for us.
Q: I know it’s a fine line of trying to reel in Jarvis [Landry] sometimes, but did you have an issue with what he did today?
A: With?
Q: Just with the penalties.
A: I mean, I’ll probably have a little better idea [with] what happened on that whole deal. Unfortunately, we lost all those yards and then found a way to battle back and just couldn’t convert when we had a third and manageable.
Q: Adam, as far as pivotal stretches of the game, late in the second quarter, they scored the two touchdowns in the final six minutes, I guess, to go up 21-6. Was that the biggest stretch of the game? One of the biggest? How would you determine that?
A: I don’t even look at it like that, because you’re playing the game and then, really, once you kind of get in the fourth quarter, that’s when you’ve got to make it go one way or the other.
